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Crime-free Housing in the
21st Century
Edition: 1st
Author: Barry Poyner
ISBN: 0-95456-073-6
Publishers: Willan
Price £27.50
Publication Date: December 2005
"Politicians, police and the press are always looking for a way to
cut crime and keep it down. Here it is. No police chief, architect or planner
should be without it. In fact they should be held accountable if they haven't
read it. Whoever or whatever you are, if you have any interest in crime, design
or public policy this book will give you a new way of looking at things."
Nick Ross, BBC Crimewatch UK,
Chairman, Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science Advisory Board
'This book shows the extent to which crime in residential environments can be
controlled through design and planning. It is much needed. That design and
planning can contribute to the control of crime is not new, and there have been
other books, theories and official guidance on this topic. The value of this
one lies in the strength, scale and detail of the research evidence presented,
and the consequent prime role it gives to design in creating self policing and
crime free environments of the future'
Barry Webb (in the Introduction to this book)
This book sets out to investigate the relationship between crime and the
design and planning of housing, and to produce practical recommendations to
help architects and planners to reduce crime. It builds upon and updates
research originally published in Crime
Free Housing (1991), providing an easily accessible, high quality and
well presented account of crime and housing layout.
The recommendations of this book focus on ways of reducing four different types
of crime through better design:
Burglary - a strategy to
discourage people trying to break into houses
Car crime - a strategy for providing a safe place to park cars
Theft around the home - a strategy for protecting the front of house, items in
gardens, sheds and garages safe
Criminal damage - a strategy to minimize malicious damage to property
Contents
Foreword (1) by Ronald V Clarke
Foreword (2) by Stephen Town
Introduction by Barry Webb
Preface
Acknowledgements
1 Recent research and guidance reviewed
2 Crime in residential areas
3 Comparing housing layouts
4 Burglary and housing layout
5 Car crime and housing layout
6 Theft and damage around the home
7 Fifteen years on
8 Case studies
9 Design strategies against crime
References
Appendix 1 A classification of residential and non residential crime
Appendix 2 Residential crime data
Appendix 3 'Summary of design requirements' (from Crime Free Housing)
Comparative Histories of Crime
Author: Edited By Barry Godfrey, Clive Emsley, Graeme Dunstall
ISBN: 1843920360
Publishers Willan Publishers
Price: £18.99 RRP UK
Publication Date: Sept 2003
This book aims to both reflect and take forward current thinking on
comparative, cross-national and cross-cultural aspects of the history of crime,
and to broaden the focus of the historical context of crime and policing.
Contributors to the book (from the UK, Europe, America, Australia and
New Zealand) explore a diverse range of topics, including declining rates of
violence, juvenile delinquency, the punishment of offenders, policing, and
military law, demonstrating how comparative perspectives can enrich
contemporary studies of crime and policing. A variety of themes are addressed
in an extensive introduction which reviews current thinking in relation to the
comparative history of crime and criminal justice.
The contributors share a common concern to identify the distinctive
features of the social and cultural contexts existing within national
boundaries, and to contrast these with the commonalities of experience from
other countries. Overall the book provides an exciting mix of theoretical
discussion, empirical enquiry, and signposts for future research of interest to
historians of crime and policing, criminologists, sociologists of deviance and
others with an interest in questions of crime and order in the modern age.
The editors
Barry Godfrey is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Keele University;
Clive Emsley is Professor of History at the Open University, and President of
the International Association for the History of Crime and Criminal Justice;
Graeme Dunstall is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Canterbury,
New Zealand. All three have published extensively on the history of crime and
criminal justice.
The contributors
Susanne Karstedt, Maria Kaspersson, Peter King, Paul Lawrence, Bronwyn
Morrison, Gerald Oram, John Pratt, Heather Shaw, John K. Walton, Martin Wiener,
John Carter Wood
Foreword Martin Wiener
Comparative history- is an approach to the past long urged by many but
actually practised by few. This is not surprising: it is difficult and timeconsuming,
for it demands a mastery of more than one body of sources and, if it is
nationally comparative (as is usually the case), of more than one body of
scholarship. Of course, as Barry Godfrey, Cliye Emsley and Graeme Dunstall note
in their enlightening introduction, all history is fundamentally comparative:
historians cannot help at least implicitly comparing the present in which they
live to the past they study. Yet as the historical profession continues to
specialise, the need for specifically comparative historical work becomes ever
clearer. Comparison alone makes it possible to understand just what is
particular about particular histories to give them their proper place in the
larger picture.
The history, of crime and criminal justice is still a young branch of
study, and its scholars have been preoccupied with establishing basic understandings
of national patterns of crime over time and of the workings of national systems
of criminal administration. By now, however, sufficient knowledge about crime
and criminal justice in particular locales and eras has begun to accumulate to
permit serious comparative work to begin. Eric Monkkonen has pointed to a
growing international standard of definition and communication which is now
making cross-national comparisons feasible. Some guidelines may be appropriate
for this sort of scholarship. Comparison seems to work best when its subjects
are different but not too different: when they have enough in common to make
their differences revealing, for example comparison between England (or
Britain, bearing in mind the unique Scottish system of law) and her settlement
colonies, or between two or more of those colonies. Here a legal and to a
significant degree a social and cultural heritage is shared, and differences
can highlight other differences - in environment, politics and society - as
well as the omnipresent influence of contingence. Another potentially rewarding
approach is comparison between England and the United States; here again, a
shared early history and legal framework can bring into sharp relief
differences emerging over several centuries of divergent development. A third
angle of attack is to compare European states, as wholes or in part. In each of
these approaches what is shared can provide a meaningful context for
highlighting and examining differences, and can suggest fruitful
generalisations for further exploration. The essays in this collection all
adopt one or other of these approaches, and each in its own way advances our
understanding of the complex contours of 'crime' and its 'administration' in
the western world in the past two centuries.
Martin J. Wiener
Review by Kim
Stevenson
In this collection of essays on cross-cultural histories of crime,
the editors, (quite rightly) seek to dismiss any actual or perceived
theoretical differences between cultural historians and historical
criminologists by constructing a bridge of 'functional understanding.' All the
contributors may therefore be classified as 'comparative crime historians'
undertaking cross-cultural historical investigations into a range of criminal
practices -most of which are connected to some form of violence or another. The
editors contend that such common understandings can be attained in much the
same way that history has shown that individuals, through time and space, have
been able to adapt and become integrated into non-indigenous and different
cultures. Their assertion is that researchers too, can and should, understand
different cultural codes and historiographies by immersing themselves within
them and traversing cultural shifts from their respective academic
positions. However, they caution that
while contemporary comparative study increasingly and necessarily acknowledges western
and Eurocentric biases, investigators must appreciate that it will inevitably
draw out 'the demons' of postmodernity and 'cultural identification.' By this
they mean that irrespective of discipline all researchers must be continually
alert to not only the terms and factors upon which they base their comparisons,
but the challenge of whether they have the 'right' - as outsiders - to analyse
other cultures of which they have no personal experience or heritage. An
open-minded process of continual self-critique and methodological evaluation is
therefore a necessary pre-requisite for all who venture down this route.
At first glance, this collection of essays may seem somewhat disparate
and disconnected, however there are unifying themes and all the case studies
draw out both commonalties and contrasts. Individual contributors raise various
issues and concerns about undertaking comparative analysis identifying their
own particular problems and difficulties in framing boundaries and
methodological stance. Each seeks to theorize and justify the methodological
approach adopted in charting their own comparative historiography rather than
being constrained by the imposition of strict editorially defined parameters.
Thus some authors offer a very broad and more general critique encompassing a
kaleidoscope of continents, countries and timescales albeit focused around
broad themes such as the culture of violence (Wood) and juvenile delinquency
(Shore). Others address a more specific
and constrained thesis focussing on a specific crime and limited to a
particular country, culture or within a truncated time frame: for example
homicide in Stockholm C16 to C20 (Kaspersson); violence on the railways in C19
southwest Germany (Karstedt), and the use of shaming punishments in the US
(Pratt). A third option is the duo comparison of two nationalities through the
unifying theme of a particular type of crime such as King’s four examples of
moral panics precipitated by robberies and street crime – three in English
cities 1765, 1862, and 1972 and another in New York in 1976. And for those with an interest in
historiographies of comparative policing Lawrence analyses police memoirs of
French and English policemen 1870-1939 to ascertain their personal portrayals
of self-image and representation. Walton compares the policing practices of two
apparently irreconcilable exemplars - seaside holidays in Blackpool and San
Sebastian in northern Spain 1870-1930 demonstrating the breadth of inquiry
included in the book – and identifies some intriguing similarities. The
penultimate exposition is a comparison of the US and English experience in the
management of misdemeanours and worse committed by those in military service
1866-1918
Perhaps the most useful and challenging thesis though is Bronwen
Morrison’s final concluding chapter where she attempts to address the question
of ‘why conduct comparative research?’ This is a lively and entertaining read
that genuinely and honestly reflects upon the academic difficulties, practical
and cerebral, that any cross-cultural comparative inquiry imposes. Not only is
a review of the current theoretical thinking and justifications from leading
criminologists offered but Morrison raises many questions of her own including
a number from her own experience of research into representations of inebriated
women in the nineteenth century. For any researcher intending to include a
cross-cultural perspective in their interrogations this chapter alone should be
compulsory reading – and certainly for any postgraduates obliged to justify
their methodology.
Kim Stevenson
Car Crime
Author: Claire Corbett
ISBN: 1-84392-024-7
Publishers Willan Publishing
Price: (paperback) £17.99 ISBN 1-84392-025-5 (hardback) £40.00.
Publication Date: 2003
Review
Dr Corbett declares that 'The prime purpose of this book has been to
bring together diverse information on many topics that constitute (or are
closely connected with) car crime in order to provide a sound basis for further
exploration'. If so, the aim is handsomely achieved. The 202 pages of text is
stuffed full of informative, interesting and sometimes shocking information.
But the book goes further than merely a survey of knowledge about car crime, to
challenge our very notion of what 'car crime' actually is. Accordingly, it will
be a ‘must read’ for all those with a interest in cars and should be compulsory
reading for the much wider audience who imagine that it has little to offer
that is relevant to them.
The recurring theme of the book is that 'car crime' extends far beyond
theft of and from vehicles, and the associated menaces of joyriding and the
like. These figure, but the author insists that 'car crime' should also include
crimes committed in the course of driving cars. So, there are chapters
concentrating on driving whilst impaired by alcohol, drugs, and fatigue;
speeding; dangerous and careless driving; and unlicensed driving. Not only does
she challenge us to broaden our definition of ‘car crime’, but also to
recognise how 'car culture' leads us to elevate the value of the car and
diminish the harm that its use causes.
'Car culture' grew from the exclusive preserve of the rich and famous
in the early years of the last century to mass ownership today. This history
gave the car its image of a luxurious status symbol that is seen as conferring
freedom and allowing the exhilaration of speed-sentiments to which advertising
appeals. We continue to regard attempts at regulation of traffic and driving
behaviour, as did those early motoring pioneers, as unjustified oppression of
'ordinary decent motorists' despite the appalling death toll, injury and damage
to property that cars cause. As Dr Corbett points out, the characterisation of
collisions as 'accidents' denudes drivers of responsibility, for 'accidents'
can happen to any of us.
Against this background of widespread flouting of the law and hostility
to restriction, governments have been hesitant to legislate because of fear of
the electoral consequences. The lack of seriousness with which traffic offences
are regarded is reflected in the recent reduction in traffic policing and the
exclusion of performance targets from this aspect of police work. This lack of
attention to traffic offences is all the more ironic when it is revealed by Dr
Corbett that those who pose the greatest risk of all manner of motoring harm
are not middle-aged, middle-class, men but instead the 'usual suspects': young
men from the lower social classes whose delinquency extends well beyond the
motor car. It is they who are more like to drive whilst impaired by drink or
drugs, to speed and drive dangerously, to drive without a valid licence,
insurance and tax, and who absurdly over–rate their driving skill. They also tend
to have criminal convictions aplenty.
However, as the driver of an obscenely large, gas-guzzling luxury car
(albeit aged) I am not entirely convinced by the general assault on 'car
culture'. Dr Corbett laments the influences that induce 'so many [who] to want
to be part of this culture (whether they have licences or not) because drivers
are treated—as they treat themselves—as superior to other road users'. Well,
given how much I and other motorists are obliged to pay for the privilege of
driving along the highway, I think we’ve earned the right to feel superior! But
what kind of superiority is it that has led motoring to be taxed to the hilt to
pour subsidies into the black hole of that antiquated technology that is the
railway? Moreover, what kind of superiority is it when motorists are treated
with scant regard for their civil liberties in the criminal justice system? It
is all very well for Dr Corbett to argue that 'Legal arguments about lack of
intention to cause harm while driving, and the greater focus on culpability not
consequences of driving actions add fuel to the hegemony of the car and car
drivers', but drivers are unusually (perhaps uniquely) subjected to strict
liability offences. There is no need to establish mens rea when pursuing a
prosecution for careless driving, or failing to comply with traffic signals. If
this rant tells you anything, it is that Dr Corbett has achieved another of her
aims—that of stimulating debate.
P.A.J. Waddington
Professor of Political Sociology
The University of Reading
Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice
2nd Edition 2004
Author: Sandra Walklate
ISBN: 1843920689
Publishers Willan Publishing
Price: £17.99 RRP UK
Publication Date: 2004
This book provides a lucid and accessible introduction to gender issues
in crime and criminal justice, central to any understanding of crime and
criminal justice policy and practice. This second edition has ben updated to
take full account of recent developments, particularly in the areas of
policing, crime prevention, restorative justice and the Sexual Offences Act
2003. It deals with a wide range of issues within criminology and victimology,
from the way in which the fear of crime is debated to the way in which the law
operates in a gendered fashion.
Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice is divided into three main sections.
The first considers the theoretical presumptions embedded in criminology and
victimology in relation to gender; the second considers two substantive areas
in which these presumptions have been particularly evident, the fear of crime
and sexual violence; while the third deals with questions of policy in relation
to policing and the law, and examines the way in which gendered assumptions influence
criminal justice policy and practice
Sandra Walklate is Professor of Criminology, Manchester Metropolitan
University, and the author of a number of books in the area of crime, victims
and policing.
Preface to 1st Edition and acknowledgements.
This book updates and replaces my earlier book, Gender and Crime: an
introduction, published in 1995. This was originally borne out of the support
given to me by friends and colleagues in the Department of Sociology,
University of Salford, and by the opportunity to develop my teaching interests
by Ian Taylor, then head of department. Since then I have been Reader in
Criminology, and since February 1998 Professor of Sociology at Manchester
Metropolitan University, where I have been afforded the opportunity of developing
a new degree programme in Criminology and Sociology.
Preparing a revised and updated version of this book has not been as
easy as I anticipated. In some respects much has happened in the criminal
justice world over the last few years. In terms of practice much is now in
place in addressing the impact of crime (especially in relation to women) which
was not there at the beginning of the 1990s. Moreover the MacPherson Report on
the murder of Stephen Lawrence has focused the policy agenda on issues relating
to ethnicity. I therefore constantly struggled with the questions of how much
and under what circumstances did the question of gender still matter. However,
that question now seems to me to be the crucial one. Clearly there are
different lenses through which we might look at social life and gender is one
of them. Without considering the centrality of this to us all (alongside race,
class and sexuality) and some critical thought about how and when policies and
practices might be differently informed, we shall be forever lost to sound bite
politics.
This new edition, then, has been reorganised into three more clearly
identifiable sections; roughly theory, praxis and policy; and each chapter has
been updated to take account of more recent developments, both theoretical and
empirical, in each of the relevant areas. My aim is not to offer a gendered
analysis as an answer to the crime problem, but rather to lead students and
practitioners alike to reflect upon how and under what circumstances the
relationship between gender, crime and criminal justice is the salient one.
Sandra Walklate Cheshire, June 2000.
Crime Control and Community, The new politics of public safety
Author: Edited By Gordon Hughes And Adam Edwards
ISBN: 1903240549 Hardback
Publishers Willan Publishing
Price: £25 RRP UK
Publication Date: April 2002
Community-based crime prevention has become one of the principal policy
responses to crime and disorder across western societies, and regarded now as
one of the keys to successful crime prevention and reduction. But it has been
difficult to generalize from different experiences of crime prevention schemes
to find out 'what works, and making simple comparisons has often proved
misleading.
The aim of this book is to bring together findings from case studies of
community based crime prevention in Britain as a means of examining the
prospects for this approach, its evolving relationship with criminal justice
and social policies, and of assessing the lessons internationally that can be
drawn from this in the theory, practice, research and politics of crime
control.
At the same time the book advances an important new conceptual
framework for understanding community-based crime prevention, focusing on an
understanding of the diversity of community crime prevention strategies, the
locally particular conditions in which they are conducted, and the degree of
choices open to political authorities charged with implementing these
strategies, and exploring some of the political and ethical dilemmas which
arise.
Understanding diversity in this way is central to drawing lessons about
the transferability of crime prevention theory and practice from one social
context to another, avoiding the naive emulation of crime control practices in
different contexts. The book will be essential reading for anybody with a
professional or academic interest in crime control and the broader social,
political, criminological and ethical issues it raises.
The editors
Gordon Hughes is Senior Lecturer at the Open University, and Adam
Edwards Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. Both have written
extensively in the field of crime prevention and crime control, and on
criminology more generally.
Preface
The genesis of this book can be traced back to a conversation between
the editors and one of the contributors, Kevin Stenson, at that splendid
Liverpool institution, the Adelphi Hotel, in 1999. The context was the biannual
conference of the British Society of Criminology during which, for the first
time, a specific team was set aside for local studies of community safety and
community-based crime control. For the three of us, the debates in this stream
represented a long overdue recognition by mainstream British criminology of the
salience of community safety strategies for the future direction of crime
control policy and its relationship to the 'discipline' of criminology. In the
course of this conversation we discussed the need for a longer-term project considering
the lessons that can be drawn from the practice of community based crime
control in different localities. Over the past decade there has been an
accumulation of detailed, qualitative case studies of this practice in
different English localities, which both justifies and enables lesson drawing
through international comparisons. Taken collectively these local case studies
suggest that what is most insightful about the conduct of community-based crime
control is its diversity. Whereas the predominant trend in official discourse
has been to generalise particular instances of 'best' practice in the search
for universal models of 'what works', our preference is to reverse this logic
of policy change and learning to recognise particularity and distinguish the
locally specific from the genuinely universal. The discovery of what practices
are genuinely universal and are, therefore, robust enough to stand translation
from one locality to others with often very diverse social, economic and political
histories is a key objective of policy-oriented
Crime Control and Community learning and not its simple, unproblematic,
starting point. Discovering what, if any, crime control practices are universal
is a key contribution that social science can make to the process of
policy-oriented learning and provides the core rationale of this edited
collection and the broader project of crime control policy analysis of which it
is a part.
In shifting the terms of debate away from the assertion of universal
models of what works towards recognition of the particular contexts and
practices of crime control, this project challenges policymakers to question
the possibility of learning from and transferring practices among diverse
localities. How transferable are these practices? What are the potential
consequences of their transfer? Who is actually involved in decisions about
what works, for whom and in what contexts? Questioning the possibility of
learning in this way reveals the political and ethical content of governmental
processes like crime control. While there is a strong tradition in
Anglo-American official discourse of divorcing 'policy' from 'politics',
defining the latter as the provenance of legislatures and regarding the former
as the apolitical administration of their laws, studies of the implementation
of public policy have consistently demonstrated the omnipresence of political
agency throughout the entire process of policy formulation, implementation and
evaluation. The other core theme of our approach to policy change and learning
is, therefore, to understand the exercise of political power inherent in the
conduct, not just the formulation, of crime control policy.
In turn, community-based strategies provide an acid test of policy oriented
learning about contemporary crime control. The appeal to community is at the
epicentre of major changes in the relationship of citizens to political
authorities in Britain and other advanced liberal democracies. The perceived
failure of attempts to govern through public bureaucracies and through
quasi-markets has provoked increasing interest in the 'third way' of governing
through partnerships of public, private and voluntary organisations. Whether
public-private partnerships are regarded as a genuinely alternative method of
governing or just as another forum in which advocates of public service and
private interest struggle to define the ends of public policy, their
establishment raises important questions over the legitimacy of directly
involving private interests in public government. This is especially the case
in the emotionally charged field of crime control where the direct
participation of communities in their own government can, conceivably, mean anything
from attending a cursory public meeting through to vigilante action and the
exacting of 'street justice' from suspected offenders. The unintended, as well
as intended, consequences of introducing universal models of 'what works' into
very diverse social contexts is thus of immediate practical as well as policy
and theoretical interest. Indeed one of the distinguishing qualities of the
contributions to this edited volume is the finding that issues of legitimacy,
equity and justice, far from being the preserve of 'ivory tower' theorising
that is a distraction from the immediate, practical concerns of crime
reduction, are actually part of the everyday dilemmas encountered by crime
control practitioners sent out into 'the community' to foster partnership work.
This collection presents a point of departure for an approach to
policy-oriented learning that affirms the practical adequacy of political and
normative theories of crime control, recognises the effect of the particular
local contexts in which crime control policies are implemented and, in doing
so, builds a more determinate understanding of control by distinguishing
locally specific practices from those that are genuinely universal. The focus
of this text is primarily on the processes of community-based crime control,
rather than on its outcomes for rates of crime and disorder, which reflects the
orientation of qualitative case study research in English localities. We hope,
however, that this volume can contribute to a broader programme of
international and transnational comparative research into the conduct and
outcomes of local crime control in Britain and in other advanced liberal
societies.
We wish to acknowledge the contributors for their commitment to this
project and for their patience in putting up with our demands as editors.
Special thanks also go to our publisher Brian Willan for his support and
continuing enthusiasm for our collective project.
Unhappy Dialogue The Metropolitan Police and black
Londoners in post-war Britain
This
book is concerned with the origins of the relationship between the Metropolitan
Police and London's Black community during the crucial early decades of
large-scale immigration.
Edition: 1st 2004
Author: James Whitfield,
Reviewed by Owen Kelly & Brian Rowland
ISBN: 1843920646
Publishers: Willan Publishing
Price £25 RRP UK
Publication Date: 17th June 2004
First Review by Owen Kelly
Had the presentation of information in this book
been balanced, it would have been a very useful history of relationships
between the Metropolitan Police and West Indian immigrants (and their
descendants) over the past half century. The evident amount of
research is impressive. It is a
great pity that the author has not presented it in a more neutral and
objective way. Its usefulness is
diminished by the way he turns it into a polemic against successive UK
governments, and the Metropolitan Police in particular who, it seems, could do
absolutely nothing right.
Having been a member of the Met for 29 years, in all ranks from PC
to District Commander, during much of the period the author covers, and
having served in the ranks of Inspector, Chief Inspector and Superintendent at
Brixton Police Station, some of it as Community Relations Officer (CLO)
for the Borough of Lambeth, I claim to speak with at least equal authority to
the author. During that period, and later as District Chief Supt and
then Commander of P District which then covered the Boroughs of Lewisham (also
with a large West Indian population) and Bromley, I witnessed at first
hand, and was involved in, the sacrifices and efforts made by the Met to
achieve good relations with the Afro Caribbean communities. Sadly, those
efforts were not always reciprocated by sections of those
communities. Later, when I had gone on to head the City of London
Police, I was still able to observe with keen interest what was happening to my
large neighbour and how the sterling work in improving relationships
with the whole spectrum of ethnic groups continued. None of that is
acknowledged in the book. I just do not
recognise the Met Police the author describes.
By contrast, there is no criticism of the West Indian community.
Nothing at all about the failure of some in that community to respect the
rights of the host community, thereby forcing confrontations with
police. No recognition of the distress
caused to people living in wide swathes of streets into the early
morning hours by ear-splitting music blasted from powerful
amplifiers, usually from an empty house taken over, sometimes
illegally, to organise for commercial profit an unlicensed drinking (and
sometimes cannabis dealing) den. This
was typically a small 2 or 3 bedroomed terraced house with one wc,
occupied by up to 100 people, some spilling out from front and back, with others
urinating in the street or against parked cars. In an attempt to avoid
confrontation, I can recall, as an Inspector, on occasions
personally approaching those organising such events and pleading with them to
stop. Then, having been rebuffed, being forced into
obtaining warrants to raid the premises for unlicensed sale of liquor. At
the time I was aware of similar attempts to avoid confrontation being made
elsewhere in the Met area. This was not
just trying to preserve relationships, it was recognising that there was just
not enough manpower for the tasks, and that there was a risk of widespread
disorder if we lost control. Sometimes we just backed away rather than take
that risk - and, to our sorrow, let the aggrieved section of the population
suffer on. I wonder if the author ever
had to explain this impotency to the victims, as I had. And this was long
before the Scarman Inquiry which, in effect, gave support to that approach
rather than risk a riot. To suggest that the Met policy of the time was
careless of avoiding such confrontations, is just plain wrong.
Nor is there recognition of the position created
by West Indian youth being disproportionately involved in street
robberies, with police again unavoidably driven by pressure
from victims to do something about it.
I had personal experience of addressing and trying to pacify those
victims and their relatives at public meetings. When those victims
described and identified their assailants as teams of young
West Indians, we had was no choice but to concentrate on those teams
- and then be accused of discrimination. Again there were instances where
to have made arrests would have risked provoking a riot by others joining
in to rescue the culprits, and again, for the greater good, we backed off
- but with heavy hearts. There are many other areas of behaviour I could list
where police were driven into confrontation, albeit by a small sections of
the Afro Caribbean community, but that would achieve nothing here.
As a CLO, and later as District Commander,
I liaised closely with the West Indian local community
representatives, keeping them informed of all our areas of conflict and
seeking their help in resolving them.
Sadly, they too had little control over the offending sections of their
community. On occasions they explained
that such conduct was an extension of how some behaved in Jamaica, and no
solution had been found for it there either.
Again, this is something of which the author must be aware, yet chooses
not to mention, preferring to blame the conflicts solely on police and
government policy failures.
It is commonly asserted by pundits in this field (as does
this author) that the main onus for improving relations with ethnic
communities lies with the police service, and I go along with that
- but not to the extent that it should relieve those communities from
the responsibility for dealing with the failings of some of their members, and
taking initiatives to avoid conflicts with police.
There are other parts of the book with which I could take
issue, but rather than weary the reader, I have stayed with those of which I
had direct personal experience.
In summary, that bias in presentation damages the
book's credibility and I cannot recommend it.
Owen Kelly
20/10/04
Second Review By Brian Rowland
This book has a somewhat misleading title in that
it is mainly centred around the influx of West Indians of African origin into
the United Kingdom after the Second World War, rather than, as the sub title
suggests, the entry of black Londoners.
Quite quickly after that influx, numbers of immigrants began to arrive
from the Indian subcontinent. That such
immigration quickly overtook that from the Caribbean area was hardly
surprising, given the difference in population between the two areas. The difference in the African and the Asian
although mentioned in the book, could perhaps have been explored in greater
depth. The variances in temperament and
the levels of crime might have been two examples that would have been worth
exploring. Although the author has
served a considerable period to reach Inspector rank, his knowledge of the
Metropolitan Police and its history appears somewhat sketchy. He makes the point that Sir Joseph Simpson
was the first Commissioner to rise through the ranks, but makes no mention of
the special arrangements that Lord Trenchard put in place during his period of
office as Commissioner, whereby suitable well educated recruits were fast
tracked through the force as products of the Hendon Police College in the 30's. Sir Joseph was such a product and in the
1950's and 60's many Chief Constables of provincial forces owed their positions
to having passed through Hendon. Even
latter day matters contain errors. one finds it difficult to understand why the present
Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, who has held the office for the past five
years, is referred to at page 188 and in the index as Sir John Stephens.
Neither were there any Home Office training centres to assist in training
colonial officers, as mentioned in page 38.
Such establishments owe their origin to post Second World War
recruitment. The author devotes space
to describing the attitude of the indigenous white population to their colonial
cousins, homing in on the fact that he is referring, in the latter instance, to
the black immigrants from the Caribbean.
He has not come to any understanding of that white population who over
the previous 400 years had developed a British Empire that covered a third of
the world and was marked out in red on the atlas. Moreover, that from a very early age, schoolchildren were taught
that the United Kingdom led the world and this has rubbed off on those now in
the evening of their lives. The
reviewer has vivid memories in the 30's of celebrations to mark Empire. Day on
May 24th each year, when as school children all were marched out on to the
school playing field where the Union Jack was solemnly raised in recognition of
the greatness of the nation. Such memories
are not easily erased and whilst one can understand the points of view outlined
by the author it will have to be for future generations, as they attune to
multiracialism, to ensure that such attitudes and memories have been
obliterated. Fortunately one can see
changes already taking place in the stance of younger people to racial matters
and the increase in mixed race unions. Unfortunately, such change will take
time and everybody will have to be patient.
The author devotes some space to what is an
important chapter dealing with the run up to the Royal Commission of 1962. Prior to Sir Henry Willink's Report the
police service suffered from poor morale brought about in no small measure by
civil servants from the Home Office failing to recognise the quality of the
police officers and who from the post Second World war era, had adopted a
policy of keeping police pay low and comparing it with the artisan, rather than
where it more properly belonged, with the professions. When morale was seen as slipping below an
acceptable level then some sort of Inquiry was established that inevitably
recommended large increases. This had been so with the Lord Oaksey Report in
the 50's in the Willink Royal Commission Report and was carried on to the
Edmund - Davies Inquiry in the 70's. It
was not therefore remarkable, that the Royal Commission, appointed in January
1960, within less than a month saw fit to move the remuneration of the
Constable to the top if its priorities and indeed presented an interim report
on the subject in November of that year. The members, unfortunately could not
find it possible to move away from fixing the pay on a par with a plumber or
welder rather than with a lawyer or doctor, as set out in Appendix IV of the
interim report. This position has not altered, very largely because
police officers, the majority of whom come from
working class backgrounds, have always hugely underestimated their value to the
community they serve. Was that perhaps why the 1950's and 60's were decades
with pay usually poor and morale often at rock bottom, and why many young black
men, who could have presented themselves as candidates for the police service,
instead chose to find work in factories and even in the utility services where
they dealt with all sections of the community and where they found pay was better
and conditions much more congenial?
The book gives some prominence to the financing of
the Metropolitan Police and the responsibilities that lie in that
direction. Sir Joseph Simpson is shown
as complaining that as Commissioner he did not have the control of the purse
strings he had when he was Chief Constable.
There is no doubt that was true although it perhaps overstates the
position. It has to be said, that for all police forces there is only one body
that controls the police service and that is the Home Office. That control is quite simply exercised in
respect of all important matters by laying down that they are subject to the
approval of the Secretary of State. So
despite having negotiating arrangements for pay and conditions, nothing can move
until the Home Secretary says so. And
to whom does he turn? To his civil servants, who in turn talk to their
counterparts in the Treasury, because unless the money is available nothing is
going to happen. It was true in
post-war Britain and it is still true today, as witnessed at the 2004 Police
Superintendents' of England and Wales Conference, when the delegates when asked
who ran the service, overwhelmingly chose the Home Office. With regard to the Metropolitan Police,
there is one officer that the book barely mentions and that is the post of the
Receiver. He was usually a civil
servant from the Home Office who ensured that the financial arrangements
between New Scotland Yard and at that time, Whitehall, were neatly
arranged. Likewise with any sensitive
issue connected with policing, it was, and still is, the word of the Home
Office through the Circulars that emanate from Queen Anne's Gate which
allegedly issue guidance, but can only be ignored at a Chief Officers' peril,
that calls the shots. But because they
are alleged to be only guidance, they provide a useful escape route for the
real authors, the civil servants.
Neither does it matter what Government is in power. Michael Howard when Home Secretary put an
immediate ban on introduction of the long 'nightstick' truncheon because of
police violence used in Los Angeles at the time and who just recently approved
the nationwide use of Taser Guns? So
much for Chief Oficers' having operational control. One can go back in time and
see the familiar picture of Winston Churchill in command at Sidney Street
almost a century ago. He was, of
course, the Home Secretary at the time!
The reviewer finds this a rather sad book, written
by somebody who appears to have fallen out of love with the Metropolitan Police,
which through its officers at all levels, has striven over many years to
provide racial harmony. Perhaps the
best place to look for this is within the many ancillary workers who have found
happy employment within the force.
The race issue can
very much be likened to the European Union’s problems. Both have diverse issues
stretching back many centuries and suddenly in the space of a few decades
attempts are being made to weld several disparate parts into one homogeneous
mass. It is just not possible to achieve
such aspirations in so short a time.
Already there are signs that racial issues are improving as future
generations are born and more mixed communities are formed. But it is too much to expect the police
alone to do it all and to be critical of many good police officers who served
in the 60s and 70's and attempted to kick start solving a problem that is still
far from being resolved, and lays blame where it is not deserved. It is just a pity that the book does not
give any ideas as to how a start could be made on solving the cultural
differences the author so clearly makes manifest.
Brian Rowland
28th October 2004
The
author
James
Whitfield currently holds a research fellowship at the International Centre for
Comparative Criminological Research at the Open University. He was until recently an Inspector in the
Metropolitan Police, and had direct experience of, many of the-issues he writes
about in this book.
Hard
Cop, Soft Cop
Dilemmas
and debates in contemporary policing
Author:
Edited by Roger Hopkins Burke
ISBN:
1-84392-047-6
Publishers:
Willan Publishing
Price
£19.99 Paperback (Hardback £45)
Publication
Date: 10th May 2004
This
is a book about policing strategies in the broadest sense and is concerned to
explore the spectrum of approaches which range from zero tolerance policing at
the “hard” end to apparently “softer” welfare or community-oriented approaches
at the other. In doing so it engages with the dilemmas and moral ambiguities
inherent in the tensions between different policing strategies - central to
today's debates on the current and future role of policing - in the context of
the competing and apparently conflicting contemporary popular demands for
security and order versus civil and human rights.
Rather
than seeking to juxtapose "hard" and "soft" policing styles the book takes as
an underlying theme the notion that policing is both pervasive and insidious.
Different policing styles and strategies - whether undertaken by the public
police service, private security or social work agencies - all form part of a
fast expanding multi-agency corporate crime control industry that we as
individuals both welcome and fear, and which provides the essential context for
an understanding of contemporary policing.
This
book is divided into three parts, focussing firstly on the policing of contemporary
communities, secondly on the policing of contemporary offences, and finally on
issues of democracy, accountability and human rights. It will be essential
reading for anybody with an interest in the present and future of policing in
the UK and beyond.
The
editor
Roger
Hopkins Burke is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Nottingham Trent University.
His previous publications include An Introduction to Criminological Theory
(Willan, 2001), and Zero Tolerance Policing (Perpetuity Press, 1998).
The
contributors
Mark
Button, Chris Crowther, Roger Hopkins Burke, Ruth Morrill, Andy Karmen, Lorna
White Sansom, Mandy Shaw, Graham Smith, Basia Spalek, Paul Sparrow, Mike
Sutton, Nick Tilley, David Webb, Colin Webster, John Wadham, Alec Whyte.
Review by Dr Peter Kennison, Middlesex
University
This text is 310 pages long consisting of sixteen chapters split into
three distinct sections. These themes
are ‘Policing Contemporary Communities’ ‘Policing Contemporary Offences’ and
‘Democracy, accountability and Human Rights’. This is a book about policing
strategies in a very broad sense, in various jurisdictions in the world. The book differentiates between hard and
soft policing with zero tolerance approaches being at the hard end, whilst
welfare policing styles or community orientated methods occupying the soft end
of policing. It is aimed at the practitioner and the academic.
The
first section is headed ‘Policing Contemporary Communities’ and contains six
chapters on not only policing particular geographic areas, but also specific
groups within those areas.
In
chapter one Roger Hopkins Burke introduces and evaluates policing in
contemporary society by distinguishing between the extremes in policing styles
- hard and soft policing.
In
chapter two the author Andrew Karmen draws on the work of Wilson and Kelling’s
‘Broken Windows thesis’ which was successfully linked with zero tolerance
policing styles in New York during the 1990’s to produce staggering reductions
in crime. The idea behind zero tolerance approaches focuses on dealing with the
minor criminal infractions first, because these have an effect of major crimes.
For example this notion assumes that to take out the minor drug dealers, means
that the major dealers cannot survive. The author considers the nature of zero
tolerance policing and assesses the collateral damage in terms of its effect on
the community. What is highlighted here is the alienation this style of
policing has on certain sections of the community e.g. the poor, the young, the
black, the socially excluded.
Chapter
three considers ‘Policing incivilities in Germany’. The author Alick Whyte also
picks up on the work of Wilson and Kelling’s ‘Broken Windows thesis’ and zero
tolerance policing styles. This is done using incivilities or anti social
behaviour and shows how Germany is experiencing the same problems with quality
of life issues as in the UK. Whilst
specific German Towns may be dealing with it proactively and in much the same
way, it has not needed legislation to do so.
Chapter
four is entitled Over and Under Policing social exclusion by Chris Crowther.
The author reviews the ongoing developments on police policy and practice in
relation to social exclusion. This is done considering two theoretical
orientations neo-Marxist/neo-Webberian which represents an actuarial justice
approach, whilst Foucauldian methods embody risk management strategies. The
author prescribes a synthesis of these two perspectives as they offer differing
views of the same problem. The author also recognises the fragmentation of the
policing function and wonders whether inter agency co-operation can be achieved
under such circumstances.
In
chapter five ‘Policing British Asian Communities’ by Colin Webster the author
explores both over and under policing of the Asian community. He considers the
issue of police racism in terms of the black community and suggests that the
Asian community are policed differently to black African/Caribbean people.
Previously the Asian community were viewed as more compliant, however more
recently and because of Islamaphobia, they have been treated as a suspect
population. At one level, the increased numbers of Asian youth compared to
white reaching adolescences is a factor, which sees more Asian youth becoming
criminalised. Additionally the influence of zero tolerance policing sees young
Asians being stigmatised and criminalized. This results in over policing of the
young at one level, whilst at the community level, Asian communities feel they
are under-policed because they live in the grip of fear from further
victimisation and racism. In essence, a
double victimisation by the system – the police and offenders.
In
chapter six Paul Sparrow and David Webb consider the probation service called
‘Discipline and Flourish: Probation and the new correctionalism’. The authors
consider the historical context through to modern times. It plots the development of the service from
what the authors refer to as traditional social work methodologies of
welfarism, to that of being little more than a criminal justice functionary,
whose role is based on more punitive methods of denunciation, retribution and
deterrence. The writers call for a return to less coercion and more
consideration where Garland (1989) asserts notions of compassion,
understanding, and forgiveness with the aim of promoting prevention and reform.
Mark
Buttons chapter relates to ‘Softly, softly, private security and policing of
the corporate space’. It picks up on
earlier notions of hard and soft policing throughout the world by theorising
about these characteristics relating to private security. He shows how in North
America the legacy is based on hard policing and that pockets do exist
elsewhere in the world, which also subscribe to these notions. In the UK as
well as in other post-industrial societies, the general orientation tends
towards soft policing i.e. community based partnership and risk-assessed
approaches.
Part 2: Policing Contemporary Offences contains five chapters that focuses on
specific crimes and suggests alternative methods of dealing with them. In
chapter eight Nick Tilley deconstructs the notion of ‘the crackdown’ in his
chapter entitled ‘Using crackdowns constructively in crime reduction’ Here he
examines Shermans (1990) method of intervention into geographic areas, which
uses a sudden increase of officer presence as a sanction, for the purposes of
apprehension for particular crimes or arrests in a particular place. Using a
variety of case studies on interventions, he cites the positive benefits of
targeting certain groups, particularly the middle classes. Tilley suggests that
this group have reputations to maintain, since these are the most prolific of
offenders and where such tactics secure the best results.
Chapter
nine by Mike Sutton is entitled, ‘Tackling the roots of theft: reducing
tolerance towards stolen goods market’. He uses his own research on the stolen
goods market (Sutton 1998) and deconstructs the whole phenomenon including its
links with the drugs and sex markets.
By examining it in such detail it exposes the trading relationships
within the market by contextualising the various types of fences (dealers) and
thieves. Sutton advocates the market
reduction approach (MRA) as a strategy to deal with the stolen goods
market. He argues that demand creates
the market and thieves believe they can sell what they steal, therefore feeding
that market. Thieves assess the risks and will not steal items, which they
cannot sell. More offers to sell stolen goods are made in the poorest areas in
Britain. Sutton argues that the risks to the thieves need to be increased and
the rewards reduced. Sutton also argues that the legislation is inadequate for
modern day usage and contends that previous convictions for handling offences
be used to support current charges, as a means of proving that the handler knew
or believed the property was stolen.
In
chapter ten ‘Stalking the stalker; a review of policing strategies’ by Lorna
White Sansom, the author focuses on stalking – a social construct which
suggests a spectrum of behaviours.
These include surveillance, monitoring, letter and gift sending,
nuisance calls, threatening behaviour, all behaviours which separately seem
innocuous and harmless but when incorporated as part of a campaign may be
severely damaging for the focus of the unwanted attention. The chapter considers the motivation for the
stalker including locating the behaviour within the context of domestic
violence using Walkers (1979) cycle of violence theory. It also considers the legislation and
various policing strategies. It draws
on research and experience gained from various jurisdictions. In conclusion the
author seeks a combined strategy, which links the issues of domestic violence
and stalking, which both need to be recognised socially, politically and
legally.
Chapter
eleven deals with the problem of white-collar crime through two recent high profile
financial scandals. Entitled ‘Policing financial crime; the Financial Services
Authority and the myth of the duped investor’ Basia Spalek explores what went
wrong in the cases of ENRON the US energy Giant who went bankrupt in 2001 and
WorldCom the 2nd biggest long-distance telephone company who posted
a $4Bn hole in their accounts in 2002. The author considers the regulators
responsibilities in the UK and the US. In the UK the author places the
Financial Services Agency (FSA) under the spotlight by taking into
consideration the nature of its operation and whether the same mistakes could
happen here in Britain. The author contextualises the nature of the FSA and
raises important concerns about regulation in the UK. It concludes by suggesting the FSA should reconsider its position
in terms of its relationship between financial crime and the victim.
In
chapter twelve Mandy Shaw evaluates a rehabilitation programme in Holland,
which started in 1992. Called ‘Hard
Coating, soft centre? The role of the police in Dordrecht offender
rehabilitation programmes’. The chapter
reflects on the police role n the complex interplay between hard and soft
options to sustain reduced long-term offender behaviour. Here she describes the project and reflects
on issues such as problem orientated policing, repeat offending zero tolerance
and restorative justice approaches. In conclusion she suggests the apparently
contradictory elements of zero tolerance and problem orientated policing are in
fact complimentary in tackling the root causes of offending.
Part
3 contains four chapters relating to the themes of Democracy, Accountability and Human Rights.
Chapter thirteen by Graham Smith is called ‘Whats law got to do with
it? Some reflections on the police in
light of developments in New York City’.
In this chapter the author briefly reviews the complex notion of
constabulary independence and specifically highlights the issue of discretion
within operational policing. In essence, it is about police accountability and
the balance of control over the police. It considers the increased
politicisation of policing in the ever-changing world and suggests that
legislation be used to redress the balance, in order to maintain the prized
doctrine of Constabulary independence.
Chapter fourteen is joint authored by John Wadham and Kavita Modi (both
ex members of Liberty – the Human rights group) and is entitled ‘Policing and
the Human Rights Act 1998’. The chapter gives an overview of the Human Rights
Act 1998 and shows how many of the articles are relevant to policing. The
authors examine rights issues such as surveillance, demonstration, stop and
search, arrest, detention and treatment at a police station. Deaths in custody
are also evaluated. Much of this chapter is heavily legalistic, but alerts us
to potential abuses by the police.
In the last chapter the joint authors Roger Hopkins Burke and Ruth
Morrill consider the issue of Anti Social Behaviour. Entitled ‘Human Rights v
community rights: the case of the Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) Order’. This chapter plots the rise of ASB over
recent years, outlines difficulties of definition and explores the legislation
designed to combat crime and disorder.
It shows the problems of balance, which seek to protect the public on
the one hand, whilst at the same time protecting the individual. This chapter argues that new Labour have
shown themselves to be commutarianists that value communities over the
individual. Due process values are
sacrificed in the increased pursuit of crime control where non- problematic
young people would grow out of their activities to become respectable citizens.
Here the authors imply that that is wrong, using punitive methods to
criminalise the behaviour of young people in this way, as it changes the nature
and balance of society.
This is a good collection of chapters, covering a variety of topics that
discuss and evaluate current dilemmas and debates in policing. This publication
shows graphically, how policing became fragmented and how existing strategies
failed to deal with the problems of modern living. A must for those who have an interest in policing.
Dr Peter Kennison
Middlesex University
4th January 2005